Green and Bronze

Not many people can say they were part of a major addition to the City of Dublin’s landscape.

Longtime resident Kathleen “Kitty” Munger, on the other hand, can say she has been part of at least two.

Munger, a 27-year Indian Run Meadows resident, helped make a name for herself in 1982 as one of the co-founders of the Dublin Irish Festival.

The festival was born out of a group called Dublin Irish Celebration that was put together in the mid-1980s to create a relationship between the City and its cousin in Ireland, and to better incorporate Irish culture into the City. When the Columbus Feis moved to what’s now Dublin Coffman High School and drew big crowds to Dublin, the festival was devised as a means to keep attendees in town.

Munger and co-founder Mary Margaret McClernon, along with a handful of volunteers, did all the organizational work for those first few years, prior to the City’s taking over the management of the festival in 1992. She served as festival chair several times.

“At one point, I organized all of the vendors and the mass,” Munger says. “Pretty much everything, I’ve touched.”

After the City took over festival operations, Munger stayed on board as head of the committee that chooses the Festival’s honorary chair. For the last few years, she has served as co-chair of the marketing and promotions committee, a job that keeps her involved but also allows her some time to just enjoy the festival.

Her favorite part of the festival has always been the music, particularly the traditional Irish music. Fiddler Eileen Ivers is one of her favorites, as is Scythian, a Celtic rock group that she heard for the first time in 2013.

“I really love the music, and I want to take advantage of listening to some of the great bands we bring in,” she says.

Irish dancing – she used to be an Irish dancer herself – cultural exhibitions, Irish dog breeds and shopping are among the other highlights for Munger. She especially enjoys browsing the musical instruments on display and for sale.

Munger’s interest in Irish culture is driven by more than just her city of residence – she also has Irish roots through her maternal grandmother, who was born in County Clare.

“I have an affinity for all things Irish,” says Munger. “I grew up on the Clancy Brothers and (other) Irish music; my mom used to have that as her cleaning music.”

Munger has visited Dublin, Ireland multiple times – sometimes visiting cousins who live there, sometimes taking friends who’ve never been before, always taking plenty of photos. Whether at home or abroad, the Irish culture holds appeal for many, she says. She gives as an example a group dance a few years ago in which she was partnered with a Japanese man who spoke no English but still knew some of the steps.

“It’s been a real joy to be able to bring Irish cultural activities to Dublin and to people who aren’t normally exposed to them,” says Munger.

Though her work with the Irish Festival has helped make her part of Dublin’s history, her day job – director of communications at Wendy’s – has made her part of Dublin’s even more recent history. In December, the company opened its new flagship store next to the Shoppes at River Ridge, and Munger oversaw the creation of one of its most distinctive features: a bronze statue of company founder Dave Thomas.

Munger has been with Wendy’s for more than 20 years. Her history with the company goes back even further than her professional employment there, though.

“My dad was the very first ad agency (to work with Wendy’s), in 1969-71, and my first experience with Wendy’s was the Henderson Road Wendy’s,” which the family would visit on trips to Cincinnati from their home in Cleveland, she says.

Munger held an internship at Wendy’s while she was in college, then worked for the company briefly in the early 1980s before heading off to another job.

The company had wanted for years to commission a statue of Thomas, but could not think of a place to put it. When the flagship store was announced, it made perfect sense, Munger says. A committee of which Munger was part eventually chose Washington sculptor Matthew Gray Palmer to build the statue, and Munger then oversaw creation of the piece, including a trip to his studio in the San Juan Islands to view a full-size clay rendering.

The statue was installed Dec. 7 and unveiled Dec. 15.

“It’s like you’re looking right at (Thomas),” Munger says.

In addition to the statue, the flagship store, which is twice the size of a standard Wendy’s, has a sizable collection of memorabilia. Much of it had been sitting at the company’s headquarters ever since the original Wendy’s store in downtown Columbus closed in 2007.

“It’s a destination,” Munger says. “People are going to want to see this.”

When not organizing festivals or commissioning statues, Munger is an avid walker throughout Dublin, particularly enjoying taking her dogs to Avery Park. She enjoys photography, too, with Indian Run Falls and Historic Dublin among her favorite sites to shoot. Her photography website is www.kittymunger.com.

Garth Bishop is a contributing editor. Feedback welcome at laurand@cityscenemediagroup.com.